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U.S. stocks advanced amid a global rally, with the S&P 500 Index posting its strongest two-day climb in four months, as tension eased over the impact of a U.K. exit from the European Union.

Fears that Britain’s EU withdrawal will further stymie global growth continued to ebb, soothed by speculation policy makers will counter the effects. Energy shares capped their best two days since March as crude jumped. A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. basket of the most shorted shares in the Russell 3000 Index saw its biggest surge since 2009, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average stretched its rebound to more than 550 points since Monday’s close.

The S&P 500 rose 1.7 percent to 2,070.65 at 4 p.m. in New York, after the biggest one-day rally since February on Tuesday. The gauge has erased its loss for the year after last week wiping out a 2016 advance of as much as 3.7 percent.

U.S. stocks extended an advance to the highest levels this year, as a weaker dollar spurred gains in commodity producers and industrial shares to outweigh investors’ anxiety over sluggish global growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was close to erasing its 2016 losses as Caterpillar Inc. rallied with commodity producers, even after cutting its first-quarter outlook amid speculation the worst is behind the company. FedEx Corp. surged 10 percent after raising the bottom of its full-year earnings forecast range. Health-care shares sank for a fourth session, the longest since January.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.4 percent to 2,034.27 at 12:16 p.m. in New York, after closing yesterday at its highest since Dec. 31. The Dow added 93.31 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,419.07, after coming within a point of breaking even for the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.2 percent, hobbled by the slide in biotechnology shares.